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Lot 171

MITCHELL (MARGARET)
Typed letter signed to English fan Harry Haggas, on the ending of Gone with the Wind and the casting of the film, Atlanta, Georgia, 16 February 1939

23 March 2022, 14:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £1,912.50 inc. premium

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MITCHELL (MARGARET)

Typed letter signed ("Margaret Mitchell Marsh") to Mr Harry Haggas ("Dear Mr Haggas"), pleased to hear an English reader is interested in "Scarlett and her friends", telling him she has no intention of writing a sequel to Gone with the Wind "for to tell the truth, I do not know what happened to my characters after the last page" and talking about the casting of the forthcoming film ("...the part of Scarlett in the film has been assigned to Miss Vivien Leigh... I have never seen Miss Leigh on the screen, as her only American film was "A Yank at Oxford" and I missed it. Her photographs show her to be a very charming young woman... Clark Gable has the part of Rhett; Leslie Howard, Ashley; and Olivia de Havilland, Melanie..."); with typed envelope, one page, printed heading 'Margaret Mitchell', in clean, fresh condition, 4to (275 x 180mm.), Atlanta, Georgia, 16 February 1939

Footnotes

'THE PART OF SCARLETT IN THE FILM HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO MISS VIVIEN LEIGH': the author of Gone with the Wind writes to an English fan as filming begins.

The unresolved and intriguing ending of Gone with the Wind, published to great acclaim in 1936, was the subject of much speculation and, as always when writing to fans, Margaret Mitchell once again denies all knowledge as to what the future holds for Scarlett and Rhett. She was unprepared for the success of the book and found the attention from critics and fans overwhelming and, as a result, she distanced herself completely from the production of the film. The screenplay was left to a team of writers under the aegis of producer David O. Selznick, for which Sidney Howard won an Academy Award. In fact, our letter makes clear that she only found out who was to play her heroine through reading the newspapers. At the time this letter was written, the famous 'search for Scarlett' had been resolved with the casting of Vivien Leigh, an English actress virtually unknown in the US, in the lead role. Filming had started barely a month prior to our letter, having been delayed for two years whilst Clark Gable completed his contractual obligations with MGM.

Our letter was given by a descendent of the recipient to the present owner.

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